Saturday, December 13, 2014

A MYSTERIOUS UFO SIGHTING, OUR INVERTER IS RE-INSTALLED, & WE’RE BACK IN THE KOFA MOUNTAINS

LOOKING SOUTH ALONG THE SALTON SEA SHORELINE EARLY THIS MORNING

It was while my post was publishing Friday night that Kelly happened to look our door’s window & said, “there’s something up in the sky”. I didn’t react right away until she said it again & I saw her looking up & pointing. Got up from the dining room table & went over to the door. Peering out I could see what I at first thought was a puff of cloud but it didn’t make sense because skies had cleared & the night sky was filled with stars. I opened the door & looked again. I knew instantly this was not something I had ever seen before. It was moving slowly over the Salton Sea from north to south. Maybe a few thousand feet up hard to tell. What I saw for maybe 4 seconds was a large mass of light in a semi-circle. Kind of like the letter C with the light shining from the center out through the open part of the C & in the direction the object was traveling. I also colors in the seemingly projected light with a bright ball of red light in the center. I turned to Kelly & hollered, “grab my camera” which she did but as I quickly turned back the object had totally vanished from the sky. I’ve seen airplane landing lights at night & this didn’t look like that. Also no blinking lights that would also suggest an aircraft & this object emitted no sound. Now had I been the only one to see this & the fact I’m reading a UFO book at the moment I could understand people scoffing at me but the fact Kelly was the first to see this unidentified object in the night sky removes the scoffs & makes this sighting credible…..whatever it was.

A PREDAWN MOON HIGH OVERHEAD

Despite a busy main line double train line about half a mile to the east the rumbling train sounds in the night really didn’t bother us much. No crossings nearby so no whistle blowing. When I stepped out of the coach this morning around 5 I could hear the gentle swish of waves lapping on the shore of the Salton See about 500 yards to the west of us. So nice to again see the long thin chainlike line of lights along the far shoreline. Salton City lit up like a stretched beacon in the night.

A NEIGHBORING 5TH WHEEL WITH SOLAR PANELS & SATELLITE DISH UP SILHOUETTED IN THE MORNING AIR

SALTON CITY IN EARLY MORNING’S GLOW

A TRAIN LUMBERS ALONG BEHIND OUR RIG & I REALLY LIKE THE AERODYNAMIC NOSE ON THIS 5TH WHEEL (SAME ONE AS SILHOUETTE)

STEAMY THERMAL POWER PLANTS CLUSTER AROUND THE SOUTH END OF THE SALTON SEA

SOUTHBOUND DOWN HIGHWAY 111 HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE SEA ITSELF

An early morning southbound drive rolled us into Niland around 8:20. From there we bumped our way a couple miles east out to Slab City & Solar Mike’s. He was just finishing a morning coffee as we pulled in. Always a nice fellow to talk to. Wasn’t long he had our repaired inverter out of it’s shipping box. Gary, one of Mike’s 2 helpers immediately got to work removing the loaner inverter Mike had put in for us a couple weeks ago. Didn’t take them long & our inverter was back in the coach up & running. Mike spent some time with us going over the inverter’s remote control panel & he made sure all the settings were correct. A final check & all systems were go. We settled up with Mike, had ourselves a wee chat, & we were on our way. If nothing goes wrong with our solar set-up between now & eternity this just may very well have been our last trip to Slab City. Kinda sad in a way because we have had some good memories there over the years……….

SOLAR MIKE EXPLAINS A FEW THINGS TO KELLY BECAUSE KELLY’S BRAIN IS MORE BETTER AT RETAINING INFORMATION THAN MY BRAIN IS

Heading back into Niland we still hadn’t decided where we wanted to go next. Not unusual for us. I was leaning towards heading on to Borrego Springs & Kelly was leaning towards heading back towards the Kofa Mountains south of Quartzsite. We finally reached a compromise. We turned right onto highway 111 in Niland & headed for Arizona’s Kofa Mountains. Rather than just spend 3 days in Borrego we figured it would be better to come back in possibly late January or February when we can spend more time in one of our favorite areas. Besides it’s been well over a year since I’ve made my annual trek up Ghost Mountain.

NORTHBOUND ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE SALTON SEA I LOOKED BACK WONDERING IF THAT DISTANT MOUNTAIN MIGHT BE IN MEXICO

It was a nice day with big puffy white clouds in a deep blue western sky. We retraced the previous day’s journey north to the little Mexican flavored town of Mecca whereupon we hung a right & headed back through Box Canyon. Wasn’t long & we could see white objects moving in a single line across the distant landscape. Trucks on Interstate 10 far off to our left. Box Canyon Road & I-10 run parallel for quite way before slowly merging at the interchange to Joshua Tree National Park. It was here we once again climbed aboard I-10 only this time heading east.

HEADING BACK THROUGH BOX CANYON

WE FINALLY SEE WHITE 18 WHEELER TRUCK TRAILERS FAR OFF MOVING ALONG I-10

STRAIGHT THROUGH IS JOSHUA TREE BUT AT THE TOP OF THAT RISE WE SWING EAST ONTO THE INTERSTATE

NICE CLOUD PATTERNS ON THIS MOUNTAIN RANGE

EASTBOUND ON I-10 CROSSING OVER THE DOME ROCK MOUNTAINS ABOUT 15 MILES WEST OF QUARTZSITE

An hour & something later we were in Quartzsite, picked up some fuel & headed south out of town down highway 95. Oh how I have always loved the looks of those jagged Kofa Mountains right from the first time we ever saw them back in early 2007 I think it was. After our time spent exploring around them last winter they now hold a special place in my heart. We made us some great memories bumping our way through & around those mountains late last December & again in February I think it might have been.

ONE OF MY KOFA MOUNTAIN FILE PHOTOS…WE HAVE ACTUALLY JEEPED OUR WAY AROUND, THROUGH, & TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE MAJESTIC PEAKS

Roads were rough & washboardy coming in off the highway. The roads seem worse this year than last. We were surprised not to find anyone around anywhere. Figured we would at least see half a dozen rigs scattered about but nothing. I think we are the only ones camped out tonight in the Kofa Mountains. Of course that suits us just fine & we will enjoy our quiet solitude nestled up against the mountains just fine.

OUR SPOT FOR THE NIGHT & WE’RE THE ONLY ONES HERE…NOW HOW NICE IS THAT EH:))

THE YELLOWISH ORANGE TINGE IS FROM THE LATE AFTERNOON SUN

Happy hearts over at Karen & Steve's place with the arrival of a new little cutie patootie fur ball. A great companion for Finney & this little fellow just might even end up with the name Binney. Always so nice when folks are able to reach out & help give a poor little animal a good home.

KOFA MOUNTAINS WITH PALM CANYON IN THAT SHADED AREA FAR RIGHT

Pheebs & stepped out into the inky black blackness tonight around 8. So dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Brilliant stars from mountain top to mountain top. A glow on the southwestern horizon showed me in which direction Yuma was hiding. Quartzsite was a much fainter smudge to the north. And a very faint glow low in the east can only be the far distant lights of the great megapollis known as Phoenix.

CRUISING ALONG JUST ENJOY THE DAY

And to add one more thing to our unusual sighting last night over the Salton Sea……At Solar Mike’s today while I was telling a fella about our sighting Friday night Gary, the fellow installing our inverter suddenly turned around & said, “Hey I saw that too”. Gary had been outside his rig when he spotted the strange object slightly west of his location moving in a slow southerly direction. Seeing it the same time we did he watched it for about 30 seconds saying it was the strangest thing he ever saw. His description of it was the same as mine. He said all of a sudden it just up & disappeared & that was it. So that’s 3 of us who saw it now. Strange happenings out here the night skies!!

NOT EXACTLY WHAT WE SAW OVER THE SALTON SEA BUT IT’S LEANING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man wrote a letter to a small hotel in a Midwest town he planned to visit on his vacation. He wrote: I would very much like to bring my dog with me. He is well-groomed and very well behaved. Would you be willing to permit me to keep him in my room with me at night? An immediate reply came from the hotel owner, who said, "I've been operating this hotel for many years. In all that time, I've never had a dog steal towels, bedclothes, silverware or pictures off the walls. I've never had to evict a dog in the middle of the night for being drunk and disorderly. And I've never had a dog run out on a hotel bill. Yes, indeed, your dog is welcome at my hotel. And, if your dog will vouch for you, you're welcome to stay here, too.

I'm really envious of your sighting - I've never had a sighting myself, yet, but I am ready for it.

In the past two or three years I've been telling myself that "this will probably be the last time I drive across country". My travels and traveling style has changed a bit, but I'm still able to make the trip. I think 2015 could be the last one though. It's probably a good idea to wonder about the "last trip" because you make sure you don't miss a thing and really appreciate everything.

Have you ever heard about the little town of St.Paul, AB? They have a UFO landing pad, with a connected museum containing dozens of photos of UFOs, Re. the light you guys saw, it could have been some military hush-hush thing, like a new drone. One would never know what the US is experimenting with. And naturally, they would do these things at night.

Al: ....I suggest using a simple drawing software to sketch up your sighting while still very fresh in your mind. Sightings in your area: appears like Salton City sightings were made on 03/11/2006 12:00 UTC; two at 02/12/2007 08:21 UTC; 11/13/2011 11:15 UTC; and 06/04/2013 10:00 UTC (for a total of 5 sightings). One sighting near Niland (at Slab City) 04/25/2013 02:46 UTC (not apparent in sky, however when the digital photo was looked at later, a UAO "was there". Additionally, one near Westmoreland was recorded: 10/04/2009 08:50 UTC, and five near Brawley (one UAO was observed being chased by a military chopper at 10/15/2009 08:00 UTC ( cigar shaped, with three orbed lights ). You (and, the co-sighter at Slab City) may want to consider reporting your particular sighting to MUFON (at their web interface)...good luck. From your description, this was not the Geminids.

Glad to see you have your inverter back in and up and running. Nice to see you back out in the boondocks again too. I know you were getting anxious to get back out.

On another note, I have been working to reduce the size of my photos on my blog but keep the quality. I notice your photos are small in kilobytes but great in quality. Could you explain sometime what resolution you use on your camera and if anything you do in Picasa other than reducing the size.

Looks like you are just a bit to the SW of me. I'm just off the Old Yuma Rd between La Paz valley and Rainbow Acres. Let me know if you are making a run into town! Or perhaps I'll schedule my annual hike into Palm Canyon!

It's always so nice to have things repaired and be on your way again. Your Box Canyon drive shot reminded me of roads I've taken that were similar. I like those kinds of roads. I've heard of a few sightings here in Quartzsite - a week or two ago - I'd love to see one.

Consider yourself lucky. Seeing one does leave you with an odd feeling.

Thank You for the photo shop job on the power plant pic. You knew I would copy and blow up to view. I am reading a book called Drawing on the Right side of the Brain. It clued me in to the lop sided drawing.

no matter how many times I see them your photos stll blow me away. you should do a book of nothing but photos. as the man said how arrogant are we to think we are the only ones. many strange things in our world no one can really explain

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.